Nowadays, the infraorder Delphinida (oceanic dolphins and kin) represents the most diverse extant clade of Cetacea, with delphinids alone accounting for more than 40% of the total number of living cetacean species. As for other cetacean groups, the Early Miocene represents a key
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Nowadays, the infraorder Delphinida (oceanic dolphins and kin) represents the most diverse extant clade of Cetacea, with delphinids alone accounting for more than 40% of the total number of living cetacean species. As for other cetacean groups, the Early Miocene represents a key interval for the evolutionary history of Delphinida, as it was during this time span that the delphinidans became broadly distributed worldwide, first and foremost with the widespread genus
Kentriodon and closely related forms. Here, we report on a new odontocete find from Burdigalian (20.4–19.0 Ma) deposits of the Friulian-Venetian Basin of northeastern Italy, consisting of the partial cranium of a small delphinidan with associated ear bones (right periotic, stapes, malleus and tympanic bulla). Osteoanatomical considerations and comparisons allow us to assign the studied specimen to the genus
Kentriodon. This is the first confirmed record of
Kentriodon from Europe as well as from the whole proto-Mediterranean region. Stratigraphic and phylogenetic considerations suggest that our new specimen may represent the geologically oldest member of
Kentriodon. The evolutionary success of
Kentriodon may correlate with the emergence of narrow-band high-frequency echolocation as a possible strategy to escape acoustic detection by large marine predators such as the squalodontids. In addition, the relatively high encephalization quotient of
Kentriodon spp. may have provided these early dolphins with some kind of competitive advantage over the coeval non-delphinidan odontocetes.
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